What is the Routing Number?

A routing number identifies the financial institution and the branch to which a payment item is directed.
Along with the account number, it is essential for delivering payments through the clearing system.
In Canada, there are two formats for routing numbers:

EFT Routing Number

An Electronic Fund Transactions (EFT) routing number is comprised of a three-digit financial institution number and a five-digit branch number,
preceded by a "leading zero".
Example : 0XXXYYYYY

0 : Leading zero

YYY : Institution Number

XXXXX : Branch Number

The electronic routing number is used for routing electronic payment items,
such as direct deposits and wire transfers.

MICR Number (Transit Number)

MICR Numbers or widely known as Transit Numbers are used in cheques processing.
It appears on the bottom of negotiable instruments such as checks identifying the financial institution on which it was drawn.
A paper (MICR) routing number is comprised of a three-digit financial institution number and a five-digit branch number.
It is encoded using magnetic ink on paper payment items (such as cheques).
Example : XXXXX-YYY

XXXXX : Branch Number

YYY : Institution Number

MICR stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition.

What is Swift Code?

SWIFT code (also known as ISO 9362, SWIFT-BIC, BIC code, SWIFT ID or SWIFT code) is a standard format of Business Identifier Codes
approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
It is a unique identification code for both financial and non-financial institutions.
(When assigned to a non-financial institution, a code may also be known as a Business Entity Identifier or BEI.)
These codes are used when transferring money between banks, particularly for international wire transfers,
and also for the exchange of other messages between banks. The codes can sometimes be found on account statements.

The SWIFT code is 8 or 11 characters, made up of:

4 letters: Institution Code or bank code.

2 letters: ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code

2 letters or digits: location code

if the second character is "0", then it is typically a test BIC as opposed to a BIC used on the live network.

if the second character is "1", then it denotes a passive participant in the SWIFT network

if the second character is "2", then it typically indicates a reverse billing BIC, where the recipient pays for the message
as opposed to the more usual mode whereby the sender pays for the message.

3 letters or digits: branch code, optional ('XXX' for primary office)

Where an 8-digit code is given, it may be assumed that it refers to the primary office.